Fender Jaguar Solid Body Electric Guitar (1962)
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Item # 11799
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Fender Jaguar Model Solid Body Electric Guitar (1962), made in Fullerton, California, serial # 91240, sunburst lacquer finish, alder body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, original brown tolex hard shell case.
This lovely original first-year Fender Jaguar shows only light wear overall and is s superb playing guitar offering a world of classic twang. The Jaguar debuted in spring 1962 as Fender's new top-of-the line instrument, promoted as a "step up" from the Jazzmaster. The flashy chrome-trimmed hot rod of a guitar became a serious status symbol for many types of combos in the early '60s, especially California teen bands.
This first year Jaguar has a neck dated October 62 and pots coded to the 45th week of that year; it was likely assembled just before the turn of '62-3. It retains the first-generation features except the unbound rosewood fingerboard is the slightly thinner "curved lam" adopted right around this time, supplanting the "slab board" used since 1959. This is inlaid with the duller "clay" dots used up into 1965 while the headstock bears the gold "transition" Fender logo designed by Bob Perine. The body is finished with nitrocellulose lacquer in a deep blended 3-color sunburst, topped with the tortoise pattern nitrocellulose pickguard and loads of chrome trim.
While in the past decade of two experiencing a strong revival the Jaguar has been a historically under-appreciated guitar with several interesting features. It features the same vibrato unit and rhythm/lead circuit as the Jazzmaster with the addition of individual on/off switches for the pickups making the "Jag" a flexible guitar with a lot of sonic options. The scale length at 24" is shorter than the other pro-grade Fenders; combined with the floating tremolo unit this means the guitar is very supple to play but performs better with heavier gauge strings. The two single-coil pickups have metal "claws" underneath the coil and are optimized for clarity, punch and crispness. This guitar has a particularly nice sounding set with plenty of depth and sparkle. Still this combination of factors caused the Jaguar to fall from popularity in the late '60s as twang went out and super light strings for heavy string-bending, distortion and crunch came in!
In today's lower volume amp world the Jaguar has found many new roles; these chrome-trimmed hot rods are top-of-the line '60s Fenders and extremely high quality guitars. This one includes the original mute...the foam has been replaced and actually works quite well. This is a great-playing and sounding Jag; it came to us with the story of having been purchased directly from James Williamson of the Stooges, and reportedly used on the revived band's 2013 Album "Ready To Die". There is no official provenance included, but whatever its story we find 1962 Jaguars to usually be the pick of their litter and especially good instruments; this one is no exception.
Overall length is 40 in. (101.6 cm.), 13 7/8 in. (35.2 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 in. (610 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).
This guitar shows some signs of play over the last 6 decades but really appears not too heavily used since 1962-3 with some general wear overall. The finish on the body has light checking; the face is relatively clean while there are some deeper dings, dents and scrapes to the sides and nicks, dings and moderate buckle wear to the back. The neck finish is quite clean; the back of the neck MAY have had a light clear overspray applied long ago, but it blacklights correctly. The upper ball on the face of the headstock had definitely been oversprayed; we would guess perhaps the small "offset contour body" decal might have started to flake and was shot over. The rest of the face is NOT oversprayed, the main Fender-logo decal remains untouched.
All the hardware remains original and relatively clean as well with only light scuffing and wear here and there; as usual the bridge saddles are the most affected. The mute foam has nee replaced with the period style correct material. The only oddity we note is the switches for the pickups work in the reverse orientation; the pickups and choke are ON when the switches are down, not up. This may be a factory error or the switches may have been rewired; we find it in some ways is a better idea so have left it this way! The original frets and the fingerboard show some light wear but play fine, overall this is a lovely early Jaguar complete in its original brown Tolex HSC. Overall Very Good + Condition.
This lovely original first-year Fender Jaguar shows only light wear overall and is s superb playing guitar offering a world of classic twang. The Jaguar debuted in spring 1962 as Fender's new top-of-the line instrument, promoted as a "step up" from the Jazzmaster. The flashy chrome-trimmed hot rod of a guitar became a serious status symbol for many types of combos in the early '60s, especially California teen bands.
This first year Jaguar has a neck dated October 62 and pots coded to the 45th week of that year; it was likely assembled just before the turn of '62-3. It retains the first-generation features except the unbound rosewood fingerboard is the slightly thinner "curved lam" adopted right around this time, supplanting the "slab board" used since 1959. This is inlaid with the duller "clay" dots used up into 1965 while the headstock bears the gold "transition" Fender logo designed by Bob Perine. The body is finished with nitrocellulose lacquer in a deep blended 3-color sunburst, topped with the tortoise pattern nitrocellulose pickguard and loads of chrome trim.
While in the past decade of two experiencing a strong revival the Jaguar has been a historically under-appreciated guitar with several interesting features. It features the same vibrato unit and rhythm/lead circuit as the Jazzmaster with the addition of individual on/off switches for the pickups making the "Jag" a flexible guitar with a lot of sonic options. The scale length at 24" is shorter than the other pro-grade Fenders; combined with the floating tremolo unit this means the guitar is very supple to play but performs better with heavier gauge strings. The two single-coil pickups have metal "claws" underneath the coil and are optimized for clarity, punch and crispness. This guitar has a particularly nice sounding set with plenty of depth and sparkle. Still this combination of factors caused the Jaguar to fall from popularity in the late '60s as twang went out and super light strings for heavy string-bending, distortion and crunch came in!
In today's lower volume amp world the Jaguar has found many new roles; these chrome-trimmed hot rods are top-of-the line '60s Fenders and extremely high quality guitars. This one includes the original mute...the foam has been replaced and actually works quite well. This is a great-playing and sounding Jag; it came to us with the story of having been purchased directly from James Williamson of the Stooges, and reportedly used on the revived band's 2013 Album "Ready To Die". There is no official provenance included, but whatever its story we find 1962 Jaguars to usually be the pick of their litter and especially good instruments; this one is no exception.
Overall length is 40 in. (101.6 cm.), 13 7/8 in. (35.2 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 in. (610 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).
This guitar shows some signs of play over the last 6 decades but really appears not too heavily used since 1962-3 with some general wear overall. The finish on the body has light checking; the face is relatively clean while there are some deeper dings, dents and scrapes to the sides and nicks, dings and moderate buckle wear to the back. The neck finish is quite clean; the back of the neck MAY have had a light clear overspray applied long ago, but it blacklights correctly. The upper ball on the face of the headstock had definitely been oversprayed; we would guess perhaps the small "offset contour body" decal might have started to flake and was shot over. The rest of the face is NOT oversprayed, the main Fender-logo decal remains untouched.
All the hardware remains original and relatively clean as well with only light scuffing and wear here and there; as usual the bridge saddles are the most affected. The mute foam has nee replaced with the period style correct material. The only oddity we note is the switches for the pickups work in the reverse orientation; the pickups and choke are ON when the switches are down, not up. This may be a factory error or the switches may have been rewired; we find it in some ways is a better idea so have left it this way! The original frets and the fingerboard show some light wear but play fine, overall this is a lovely early Jaguar complete in its original brown Tolex HSC. Overall Very Good + Condition.